Lauralohho's Weblog

What God told Abraham while he was in Canaan in Genesis 15:13-16 generations before Moses:

‘Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” Genesis 15:13-16

What God told Moses, God’s chosen instrument to deliver Israel from the Egyptian captivity:

‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” Exodus 7:1-5

When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh and told him what God had told them to say to Pharaoh to “let my people go”, the battle had only just begun between Pharaoh and God. It was a human will bent on doing evil compounded by his allegiance to Satan to carry out his will. It is very clear from generations before what was foretold to Abraham that the nation of Israel was going to come out of their slavery in a foreign country as a people to worship the True and Living God in the Promised Land. Egypt was known to practice divination and sorcery, practices that are abominable to God as these are practices related to worshiping Satan. We can read that  from Joseph’s silver cup that he used for divination while he was in Egypt that was left on purpose in Benjamin’s sack. Pharaoh consulted with wise men, sorcerers, Egyptian magicians and tried to duplicate the plagues of God inflicted on Egypt through the use of their “secret arts”.  Pharaoh had a heart and will that was bent on doing evil and doing the will of Satan. He would not be convinced through God’s miraculous acts to show Himself as Lord to Egypt. While on one hand, a sinner can only be drawn by God to have faith in Him, all humans though marred by the sin nature and lost in depravity still know the difference between good and evil.  Depravity from the sinful nature does not mean sinners are incapable of doing and being good but that we cannot on our own accord choose to believe God through Christ who came to make us holy, not just good. This experience is the initiative of God through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit with the Gospel of Christ.  Pharaoh determined and bent on doing evil and harm to Israel as a people subjected his own Egyptian people to God’s judgment through the 10 plagues God inflicted on Egypt. It was within Pharaoh’s power to do what was right and good to let Israel go free but he willfully chose not to.

Due to such evil in Pharaoh’s heart, God withheld His mercy from Pharaoh. God withheld the mercy that is needed for a sinner lost in depravity to be quickened in his dead spiritual senses to respond in order to believe and trust God. God’s act of salvation is an initiative of God showing us mercy or we will forever be condemned unable to respond to God through faith in Christ. That mercy of God denied to Pharaoh can be referred to as God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh could not respond to God in repentance and faith plague after plague  performed by Moses because God had withheld His mercy from Pharaoh. The rebellious, unrepentant heart of Pharaoh could be seen through how he pursued the people of Israel to the crossing of the Red Sea where God drowned all the Egyptians, their chariots and horsemen.  Through Israel’s Egyptian captivity God’s intention was to show Israel His great power so that they will fear the LORD and put their trust in Him.  (Exodus 14:5-31) That was God’s will and God accomplished His will which could never be thwarted when He worked around and used  the evil of Pharaoh bent on serving Satan’s will to destroy Israel as a people.  God displayed His glory before Egypt which was received with no repentance due to God’s hardening of Pharaoh because God withheld showing mercy. Through that same display of God’s glory, God showed  mercy to Israel which then led to Israel’s  fear and trust in the LORD. The Sovereign God in His infinite wisdom work within His purposes the use of existing evil in the world to display His glory to accomplish His will.

God was not responsible for Pharaoh’s sinful, wicked and evil behavior.  God included within His purposes Pharaoh’s depravity with all the capacity to do harm and evil to wisely bring glory to  Himself in order to accomplish His Sovereign will in the calling and making of Israel as His chosen people.  Pharaoh’s evil was raised and used by God for the very purpose of displaying His power to Israel and to the earth. God could have struck Pharaoh dead but He withheld such judgment and showed forbearance instead for the sake of Israel whom He had sovereignly chosen to be their God and to make them His people .

The example of Pharaoh’s hardening of heart is in no way a precedent to determine God’s mind of who He has not chosen to receive His gift of salvation. It is also not to teach that it is within the power of the human will to decide whether to believe or reject God. It also does not teach God’s choice base on the deserving over the undeserving.  Instead, it shows that God is the Sovereign God who alone has the prerogative to choose based on His sovereign choice.  God has sovereignly chosen His the elect to receive mercy. God’s mercy is the basis of choosing the elect and not justice or fairness. This should lead us gratefulness because we are all undeserving apart from His mercy.

Romans 9:14-16 “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

Romans 9:17-18 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”

Romans 9:19-21 “One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?’ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?”

God’s sovereign choice of the elect is based on mercy and one can only be drawn by God in order to respond to Him through Christ. God’s objects of wrath are such because they have not been drawn to believe in Christ. It is beyond us why only some belong to God’s elect and while others are not. God’s elect, those sovereignly chosen to receive God’s gift of salvation through Christ are chosen based on God’s mercy while the condemnation of objects of God’s wrath is due to sins. It is sin and not God that condemns mankind to hell. Those who are not objects of God’s mercy are objects of wrath with hearts that are harden towards sin and evil. God’s mercy to the elect leads to holiness and serving God’s will and purposes, doing the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

Surrounding the time and era of Abraham back in 2,000 BC, people were pagans with no knowledge of the True & Living God of the Bible. Pagan practices in idol-worship were rampant in Mesopotamia where Abraham was from. He was born and raised in the Ur of the Chaldeans (South Mesopotamia) where according to archaeological  findings, Sin the moon god was worshiped. Animal sacrifices along with human sacrifices to idols were known to be practiced in those days. Such was the kind of background and surroundings Terah, Abraham’s father and his three sons came from and were familiar with. When Terah moved his family which comprised of  Abraham, Sarah ( Abraham’s wife)  & Lot (Abraham’s nephew) to Canaan, he decided to stop at Haran probably for two reasons: he found water-source and sustenance for the livestocks and the place was also known for worshiping Sin the moon god. Terah may have decided to settle the family in Haran because of those reasons. Canaan to the south of Haran (West Mesopotamia) was known for it’s prosperity and fertile land which Terah thought of moving the family when Central Mesopotamia underwent a political upheaval. Instead, they all settled in Haran until Terah died.

Here is what we can learn about Abraham’s culture and background before God spoke and appeared to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, God’s revelation of Himself to Abraham: 1. He was a pagan and an idol-worshiper from generations before. 2. There were strong family ties and obligations from what we deduce from Terah moving three generations with him to Haran. It would have been harder for Abraham to follow God had God spoken and appeared to him while his father was still alive. Family ties and obligations surrounding religious beliefs and practices would have made it all that much harder for Abraham before the death of Terah. God according to His wisdom with all the reasons known only to Him and in His own timing called Abraham after Terah’s death to follow Him to the land He was going to show him.

In order for Abraham to follow God, God told him in Genesis 1:1  to: “Leave” : 1. “your country” 2. “your people” 3. “your father’s household.” For Abraham to follow God, he was to take the step of faith and “leave” which involves the act of breaking from the paganistic religious beliefs and practices related to his country, his people and to his father’s household. Haran, the place where Terah and his family settled in was so closely linked to idols and pagan practices that in order for God to be God and work in Abraham’s life, God must replace those idols in Abraham’s life and Abraham must separate himself  from those detestable practices by “leaving”.  God’s call to Abraham was for him to trust and worship God alone who was going to show him and give him the land of Canaan, the land of prosperity which we learn later in Moses leading Israel out of the Egyptian captivity into ”the land that flows with milk and honey.” When Scriptures is read as a whole, we will also understand that God was leading Abraham and his descendants to more than just a physical and geographical location in Palestine the land of Canaan.  They were looking forward to something futuristic, to the city of God with foundations where God is the Builder and the Architect. (Hebrews 11:10) The leaving and separating and the coming out of Abraham’s father’s household does not mean cutting off biological family ties but the pagan religious beliefs passed down from family generations.  As for ‘country’ and  ‘people’, they were a representation of the place of idolatry and idol-worshipers that will not only prevent worshiping the One True and Living God but will serve to corrupt future generations after Abraham leading down the path of idolatry. Therefore,  God told Abraham to physically leave that place of idolatry and idolatrous practices cutting off all memories that would remind Abraham of his idolatrous past in order to pledge allegiance and follow the One and Only True and Living God. God had spoken to Abraham and told him to “leave” meaning to come out and separate himself from the land and people of idolatry including the idolatrous beliefs and practices of family.  Abraham maintained the biological family tie but remained faithful to God when he sent his servant back to his own family back in Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac. Rebekah, a daughter of Abraham’s brother became Isaac’s wife and a part of Abraham’s heritage within God’s plan of salvation. Isaac was the son of promise in fulfillment to God’s promises to Abraham all within God’s overall plan to save all nations in the world. Jesus Christ the long-awaited Messiah and Savior of the Jewish people and the world -  the Son of God and the Son of Man,  is God’s one and only way God has on mind to save the world from sin. Jesus Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and exact representation of  God’s being, the complete revelation of God to save mankind.

God’s intention with a plan to save and rescue sinful and wicked mankind was hinted through the flood which wiped out the entire world except Noah and his family. God’s first clear intervention into human history with that plan of salvation came with the calling of Abraham at 75 years old back in the 2,000 BC to follow Him in order to experience God through whom all peoples on the earth will be blessed with God’s revealing of Himself to Abraham. As Abraham took the step of faith and obeyed in leaving, God revealed more of Himself to him over the course of time so that the God of Abraham will then become Abraham’s God. In Genesis 12 we see after Abraham obeyed and left, they arrived at the land of Canaan, God’s Promised Land to his descendants where God appeared to him (Genesis 12:6-7). Only then was Abraham able to call on the name of the Lord in Genesis 12:8. Again in Genesis 13:3-4 on Abraham’s return to Canaan after being in Egypt to take refuge from the famine in Canaan, he came back to the exact same spot (altar built) when he first called on the name of the Lord which reminded him of God’s protection and mercies during Egypt and called on the name of the Lord again.

Over time, Abraham also acknowledged God as the Sovereign Lord after he experienced victory in the battlefield while rescuing Lot in Genesis 14, 15:1-2. In Genesis 17:1 God appeared to Abraham as “God Almighty” and told him to walk before Him and be blameless as God confirmed His covenant with him (Genesis 17:1-27). In Genesis 21:22-33, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called on the name of the Lord – the Eternal God after a treaty was made with Abimelech as a witness that a disputed well was dug by Abraham. After God provided a ram in Isaac’s place as a sacrifice and offering during God’s test of Abraham, Abraham named the place where the ram was found, “The Lord Will Provide” in Genesis 22:14. (Genesis 22:1-18) During the course of Abraham’s lifetime, God revealed Himself to Abraham, through stages and enough that he was then able to believe, trust, follow and obey God. God continued to reveal Himself through the course of history after Abraham to Isaac,  Jacob and to the nation of Israel who were children of Jacob whose name was changed by God to Israel.  It is God’s sovereign plan that the Jesus Christ the Son of God who is God’s complete revelation of Himself through whom God has spoken in these last days to walk in human flesh on this earth as a Jew, died the criminal’s death nailed to the ugly cross of sin and rose  3 days after victorious over sin, Satan and death. Jesus is the both Messiah and Savior of the world to save and redeem both Jews and non-Jews alike. A direct and complete revelation of God who is Holy and Just to any human would only cause death as we have all inherited the sin nature since the fall of Adam and Eve.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Israel knew God partially and could not experience God completely until the fullness of time when in God’s wisdom, direct revelation of Himself was made complete and He could now be experienced fully through Jesus Christ, the Son of God alone. It is the same God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob who is the God of the nation of Israel that we as  followers of Jesus Christ believe, know and experience. Jesus alone made it possible to know and experience God because He came to take sins away through His death and resurrection. The same principles which applied to Abraham prior to his conversion applies to anyone seriously considering believing and following Jesus Christ. Each person comes to Jesus Christ with a history in relation to obligations and allegiances to a country, a culture and family with religious beliefs. The principle of leaving those behind, having a clean break from a past of that is without trusting and resting in Jesus Christ alone to take our sins away is of utmost importance. In the American culture where church tradition is so closely tied into our  upbringing, there must be a clear break from the ‘christianity’ that is only a  family tradition to be passed down, a church tradition  and church culture that may only have an appearance of christian values.  Christian traditions and Christianity as a religion will never lead us to experience God only the Person of Jesus Christ alone does and can. Those will lead us to more rules and regulations and all forms of legalism that teaches a religion that depend and trust in oneself by being morally good and doing good for society and humanity as a whole. It is only in the Person of Jesus Christ alone we will see the ugliness of sins in our sinful hearts no matter how morally good and upright we have been all our lives and no amount of good we can do in our lifetime put together will counter-balance wrong-doings on a scale or remove the underlying guilt. It is no wonder we still bear the burden of feeling guilty, carrying around the weight of sin in spite of  all the good we have done and are still doing. The very feeling of not having done enough or not being good enough for God.

Jesus is calling us to ‘come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” in Matthew 11:28-30.  Before we  come to Jesus we need to leave behind the church tradition and the ‘christian religion’ that puts a heavy load on us with all its rules to do good and be good for God. Jesus knows and understands that yoke with the heavy burden which comes from relying ourself for approval with God -  the religion where church traditions and ‘religious people’ have put on their followers. Jesus have done it all and paid the price in full for our sins. He did it once and for all when He died on the cross and rose again 3 days after. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross has the power to forgive, to cleanse and wash away sins and remember them no more. Jesus righteousness will then become our righteousness before God if only you are willing to take the step of faith, break off from your past making a commitment to follow Jesus to come out and separate yourself from being religious and from sin. We may consider ourselves as ‘good’ people but our goodness are all tainted by our corrupted sinful heart where sinful and evil thoughts and feelings are harbored with an untamed tongue that only speak lies and ill of others. All these are the result of our inherited sin nature. As long as we are not trusting Jesus Christ for our righteousness before God, all our own goodness and righteousness we bring to God will remain  “filthy rags” to Him. Only the Person of Jesus Christ and His righteousness is acceptable to God.  He led the perfect and sinless life when he was on earth and so that He can be our sufficiency before the God who is Holy, Just and Righteous. God has shown His grace by sending Jesus Christ to die in our place to pay for the penalty of our sins. When we put our faith and rest in Jesus’ work on our behalf, His righteousness will now be credited to as our righteousness and we will be reckoned by God as though we have never sinned.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

You will be accepted by God based on the righteousness of Christ when you take the step of faith to:

1. Rest and trust in Jesus and His righteousness alone for your approval with God – cease from your own strivings.

2. Have a clean break from your past by coming out and separating yourself from religion and sin.

3. Rely and trust in Jesus and His blood alone to wash away your sins and cleanse you from a guilty conscience.

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have have in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

GENESIS chapters 18 and 19

Did you ever wonder why Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah is in the Bible? All this happened in the midst of what the Sovereign God was doing calling Abraham to Himself with the sovereign plan to save lost mankind in every nation who are on the road to destruction precipitated by the fall recorded in Genesis chapter 3. The Lot and Sodom & Gomorrah account apart from communicating God’s judgment in my understanding, also communicates as important  if not more  important the lostness of mankind, God’s promises to Abraham and God’s Mercy.

Out of the goodness of God’s heart He designed a well-crafted, well-thought out plan to save sinful men after the fall in eternity past and works at saving and calling them to Himself . Noah and his family is a beautiful picture of God’s mercy in the midst of judgment on evil, wickedness and sin. Evil, wickedness and sin was precipitated by the fall which led the Holy and Righteous God to pour out His wrath through a universal flood destroying every living thing on the earth except Noah and his family who were spared. God’s promise and covenant made with Noah: “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood to destroy the earth.” Genesis 9:11 God’s wrath was unleashed on the evil sinful world with water but spared Noah and family because he found favor with God. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Genesis 6:8-9

God could have brought to swift and complete end everything in this evil and sinful world through the flood but according to His mercy and in His sovereignty Noah was spared through a cleverly-crafted, a purposefully-designed and well-thought out plan according to His infinite wisdom to save His fallen creation. In His sovereign plan,  He ordains good and work around existing evil to accomplish the purposes of His will that can never be thwarted by the evil schemes of Satan and his fallen angels.

At the time Lot decided on pitching his tents near Sodom, it was said in Genesis 13:13, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” God in Genesis 18:16-33 revealed to Abraham his intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah due to their wickedness who then pleaded with God. Lot’s life and worldview in Genesis 19 is a depiction of the culture of sin and wickedness back in those days in Sodom and Gomorrah which is reflective of the  surrounding world and culture only varied in intensity. The two angels who came to bring destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah became Lot’s house guests when Lot with all good intentions, wanted to protect them from the rampant evil and wickedness of the place. Only that those good intentions were tarnished and muddled by his inability to tell right from wrong.  When all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old surrounded Lot’s house and demanded that the two house guests be brought out to the square for them to have sex with them and thinking he was protecting his house guests, he wanted to offer his two daughters to them instead. The culture of hospitality was upheld and elevated over family relationships and morality. Lot wanted so badly to be a good host was willing to sacrifice his two daughters to evil and wicked man to be sexually devoured. This is more than a troubling picture but one that God had intended to reveal about the lostness of Lot who could not tell his right hand from his left. He was absolutely clueless. What Lot had was a paganistic culture tarnished by evil and wickedness of those days, the only ‘morality’  that governed his life in those days. In other words, Lot does not know any better! What he knew  was wrong was homosexuality (what he was protecting his house guests from) and not being a good host but back in those days, the marriage covenant between a man and a woman was already in place. Lot was not totally excusable for his decisions but he was one very lost man! Only God can give sight to those spiritually lost and blinded, what He was sovereignly and concurrently doing, revealing Himself to Abraham whom He called out of paganism and God is going to bless every nation on earth through his offspring. Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot with his two daughters  were shown God’s mercy and spared while Sodom and Gomorrah with all living beings and vegetation in it were totally destroyed by ‘burning sulfur’. It was on two counts that Lot and his daughters were spared: 1. The Lord was merciful to them (Genesis 19:16) 2. God remembered Abraham (Genesis 19:29)

So, Sodom and Gomorrah is not just about destruction and catastrophe brought about by the just God to destroy evil and wickedness  but also a depiction of God’s mercy and God remembering His promises to Abraham. In God’s eventual and total destruction of Satan and his fallen angels and their cohorts and the total eradication of all evil, wickedness and sin, there will be a remnant who will be saved from that destruction based on God’s mercy. The Creator God whose Name is also the Sovereign Lord, God Almighty, the Eternal God whom Abraham acknowledged is the same God through whom we are going to receive salvation and redemption from lostness and depravity due to the inherited sinful nature from the fall of mankind. The Bible from cover to cover is God’s revelation in the Person of Jesus Christ,  His one and only rescue plan in place to save us. The Merciful God is the infinitely Wise God who sovereignly works from eternity past to eternity present through eternity future to unravel His salvation plan to save Israel as a people first and then people from all nations on the face of the earth.

Song – Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

I have been fighting winter blues today, well not much of a fight since I gave in to both sleep and food. Now, after finally getting off the couch, I decided to rejoice in the God of my salvation and write this blog post instead.

In January 1, 2008 I started reading through the bible at my own time and pace without the pressure of having to keep a reading plan. This has been the best decision I have made in my life since my commitment to follow Christ when I was 19 and made my vows before God to be faithful in my marriage 15 years ago.

Since then, my heart has been set on fire with renewed zeal and passion for God. My youth have been renewed in my midlife with new surge of energy and vigor to influence, impact and impart God to others. I feel like a great eagle spreading out its powerful wings soaring and flying with great strength and vigor in the Lord.  I am waiting to unleash the overwhelming surge of God in me.  What I am trying to say is that God excites me and I am excited by God!  I want to live my life worthy of God, worthy of my calling in Christ and worthy of the Gospel, living my life to serve the purpose of His will, doing the works He has prepared in advance for me to do.  I will, by His grace, run the race marked out for me with faith and perseverance.

The living, active Word of God is what brought about this revival and spiritual renewal in my walk with Him as I read verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book and worked my way through Genesis to Revelation. Each morning when I get up to meet with the Lord, He has never fail to meet with me as the Word of God jumps out and speaks as I read it intently with great anticipation and listened for His voice.  The Word of God helped me fall in love with God, the Author of the Book.

I have completed reading the entire bible a week ago and right now going through the book of Revelation, a book of prophecies and last things again. I am looking forward to January 1, 2010 when I will start working my way through the bible again this time, with greater eagerness, anticipation and excitement to know more of our Infinite God and His unsearchable ways.  I truly long to see and experience the things of God and  invite you to join me in my expedition.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God. My soul thirsts for God for the living God.” Psalm 42:1-2a

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:97-105

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Please Lord, when adversities sneak up and overwhelms my heart with sorrow and pain, when grappling with your love, goodness and sovereignty seem hard to accept why You, the good God of love would allow pain of such degree in order to be able to find and experience you is incomprehensible, work in this feeble heart so that there will be faith left to still trust and believe You. Is there no way to avoid suffering in order to know You? Christ knew it all too well in Gethsemane when He prayed, “If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” As the path of the Cross was marked out for Christ, You have marked out the race of faith for me. As Christ endured the Cross, help me to persevere the race marked out for me. It is in pain that I know I will find You and that is knowledge enough for me to persevere.

Amen.

WHAT IS FAITH?  (The application of the Book of  Hebrews in chapters 11, 12, 13)

The ancients in Hebrews chapter 11 were all commended for their faith because they continued to believe in God and died without receiving what was promised but welcomed it from a distance. They were all looking forward to the city with foundation where God is the Builder and the Architect, their eternal home, Heaven. What is faith according to God through the lives of the ancients? They were being sure of what they were hoping for in God’s promises, certain of God’s existence whom they do not see, who earnestly seek God being assured of God’s rich rewards of those who believed Him by faith. They believed and seek God, the Giver of His rich rewards and died in faith without receiving what was promised because they knew that those rewards are not of this world but reserved for them in Heaven.

That mind-set of faith motivated Abraham whom God called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance who obeyed even though he did not know where he was going. (Genesis 12:1-3) That same mind-set of faith led him to make himself at home in the promised land living in tents yet looking forward to something more, something of permanence in the future, the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. The assured knowledge of the existence of God and His faithfulness led Abraham to obey God when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his one and only son borne in old age, while Sarah was barren through whom God was going to make Abraham the father of many nations. Even when what God asked Abraham to do does not make make sense to him (Genesis 15:1-19), he reasoned that God could raise the dead which he figuratively did receive Isaac back from death when God provided the a ram in the place of Isaac to be offered to Him as a sacrifice. (Genesis 22:1-18)

Such faith in God in its extremities characterizes Abraham. The hanging on to the sense of hope in God when all was bleak with a  hopeless end. The extreme faith even when God did not seem to make any human sense. It was the hope against all hope, in God the Provider who so clearly promised. Abraham’s faith characterized unwavering steadfastness in God against all odds which even death Abraham believed, could not stop God from keeping and fulfilling His promises.

Moses together with the other ancients from the Old Testament according to Hebrews 11 also characterized such faith in God so much so that they would rather be identified with God in pain and sufferings rather than having worldly pleasures of ‘ease and comfort’ that is associated with a world that hates Christ. “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. ” Hebrew 11:36-38 and in verse 39 it said, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” God was their strength and courage when faced with extreme pain, sufferings and even death as a result of their faith in Christ.

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16

The recipients of the letter to the Hebrews who were persecuted Jewish Christians on the verge of reverting back to Judaism were encouraged in Hebrews 12:1 to look to the ancients of the Old Testament who had gone one before them  and be encouraged by their extreme faith in God. They were told to:

1). Throw off everything that hinder and the sin that so easily entangles. (Hebrews 12:1)

As indicated in Hebrews 12 and 13, those sins were bitterness, sexual immorality, love of money and false teachings. Apart from being tempted to recant their faith in Christ and reverting to back to Judaism, the false teachings, they struggled with these other personal sins which are common among all men. They were encouraged to “throw off” all these sins which so easily entangles and hinders our walk of faith with the Living God. As an army of God in a spiritual warfare, let us not allow satan’s ammunition to incapacitate us. It is easy to get entangled with civilian affairs as a soldier that disqualifies us from running the race of faith effectively. A warfare to wage on one hand against the enemy of our soul and a race of faith marked out for us by God on the other.  “Throwing off” that which hinder our race should be our attitude at all times. We have an enemy who attacks ferociously and relentlessly and we need to be vigilant at all times if we are going to stay on track in the race.

2). Run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1b)

God has marked out a race of faith for each of us. For these Jewish Christians, theirs was suffering for their faith through persecutions. Such similar sufferings typifies only a pocket of Christians in our world today even though persecution among Christians are on the increase. The kinds of sufferings most of us go through today are usually centered around life in general – the getting along with our spouse, family members, broken relationships, singleness, sickness, death etc. Many of our sufferings are inflicted either by self, others or nature. Yet, if we believe the God who is good and sovereign, we must accept them as part of our spiritual training in righteousness, God’s work of sanctification in our lives. Physical healing may not happen in lethal, chronic diseases, broken relationships remained broken, singles may remain single the rest of their life, yet is there any trace of faith to still believe the God of love who is good all the time, believing in an ever bright future anchored in Christ, our hope of certainty that does not change with every turn and tide and seasons of life? The ancients of old held on to faith in God, longing and yearning for their eternal heavenly home, who chose to be aliens and strangers in their temporary, earthly home. The race of faith which God marked out for us may be long, hard and challenging yet we are called to run that race with perseverance hanging on to the ever present Living God who is faithful and unchanging. When we are not ‘blessed’ with what we wish for in this life, we continue to believe in the Faithful God who is good all the time, seeking Him for who He is and not what we can get from Him.

3). Fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Jesus, the Author of our salvation who called us to faith is also the Perfecter of our faith who will finish the good work which He started in us. He endured the cross and opposition from sinful men for our sake so that we will not grow weary and lose heart in the trials and testings of life. He is our example of One who looked beyond His pain and sufferings of the cross to the joy set before Him, which is to make sinful men holy that we may all enter our eternal heavenly home, God’s dwelling place. Our trials and testings in life exists as God’s discipline to train us in righteousness and to make us holy. Jesus is our example of the One who endured and now our Helper to help us run and finish the race of faith well.

4). Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as sons.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 We are loved by God and therefore are tested as “true sons”. God discipline His children whom He love for our good that we may share in His holiness. When wounded and severely weakened by the battles of this earthly life, take courage and be strengthened in Jesus Christ. No powers, neither angels nor demons, neither life nor death nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God. Holiness is God’s end goal for all His saints. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Hebrews 12:5-6 No temptation has seized us except what is common to man. God has marked out His race of faith for each of us differently that does not mean God is unfair in blessing others with a ‘better’ life in our perception. We are all creatures who long for greener pastures when the going gets tough in life. There is no greener pasture as long as we are in this temporary tent which we all will shed for our permanence in the presence of God through Christ. THAT should be the greener pasture we in Christ must be longing and hoping for.

5). God promised, ‘ “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say in confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” ‘ Hebrews 13:5-6

Jesus conquered over sin, death and satan through His life, death and resurrection so that we may overcome and not be overcome and defeated. He is our Faithful and Merciful High Priest who sits at God’s right hand interceding for us, our ever-present Helper in troubled times. Through Him, let us offer continually a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of our lips that confess His Name and not forget to do good and share with others. For it is with such sacrifices God is pleased. Let the sacrifices of praise to God through Jesus replace our complaints, grumblings, self-pity and self-centeredness. Let us refocus on Jesus Christ, all that we learned about Him in the book of Hebrews and declare His praises. That will be enough to get us through the end of each new day for the rest of the race of faith marked out for us, maintaining the zeal of faith from the beginning sprinting to the end with renewed youthful fervor. “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who believe and are saved.” In Christ we will daily rejoice, sing a new song of praise and triumph over the enemy of our soul who is bent on defeating and destroying our faith in God! In so doing, we will also be reflecting His radiance, bearing the testimony of Jesus through the fruit of our lips from a heart that is set on Christ.

HEBREWS Chapter 10:19-39 A continuation from Bible- studies on the book of Hebrews (nos. 1-4)

The message in the book of Hebrews from chapters 1 – 10 is not to follow the example of the Israelites in the wilderness who did not combine faith in what they know about God. The Jewish believers are encouraged to combine faith with what they heard from the Gospel and hang on to faith (if there is faith) which they have reflected from the beginning. Jesus Christ,  God’s revelation in the new covenant, who entered the Most Holy Place as the High Priest and offered Himself as the perfect, sinless sacrifice for sins by His blood sits at God’s right hand and is now the Mediator between God and man. Jesus Christ and what He had done is their new confidence and who they are to put their faith and hope in.

It is not possible to have genuine faith in Jesus Christ and to continue to deliberately keep on sinning. If continual deliberate sinning keeps going on, that person deserves to be punished as it is trampling Jesus, the Son of God underfoot, blaspheming the blood of Christ which is shed for our sanctification (that which makes us holy) and an insult to the Spirit of grace. What is left for such a person is only God’s pending judgment. “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31)

Hebrews 10:19-39 -  The Righteous Will Live By Faith And Persevere

1. Since they now know Jesus Christ is God’s revelation in the new covenant and the Mediator between God and man in Hebrews chapter 1 to chapter 10:1-18, what encouragements did the writer of Hebrews gave in Hebrews 10:19-25? Look at the 5 “let us”

2. With the word, “remember” in Hebrews 10:32, what were the Jewish believers asked to recall in Hebrews 10:32-34?

3. They were told not to throw away their “confidence” that will be richly rewarded in Hebrews 10:35. What is that confidence they have according to Hebrews 10:32-34 and how’s that link to Hebrews 10:19-22?

4. Throwing away their confidence is equivalent to the failure to persevere which is to give up hope in their confidence in Jesus Christ and God will not be pleased with them. What is the assurance given in Hebrews 10:36-38a?

5. “But my righteous one will live by faith.” What kinds of assurance do you think the Jewish believers received from this verse which is based on Habakkuk 2:2-4?

6. God’s “righteous ones”, those who are truly trusting Jesus’ blood alone for their confidence to make them righteous will live by faith and persevere to the end. They will not shrink back when the trials and testings of their faith comes even with intense pain and suffering that may lead to death.

Reflections:

1.  What is your confidence in Jesus Christ like? Write down in your own words what are you hoping in Jesus. Your findings will help determine where and what you are placing your faith in.

2. Write down what you know about Jesus and relate that to the way you live your life. Do you have the confidence from Hebrews 10:19-22?

3. More often people act from being lost than on outright rebellion.  Knowing Jesus will lead us to relinquish the control of our lives to His Lordship and authority which is a lifelong process. Is there a resolve on your part to relinquish the control of your life by surrendering to His Lordship and authority? Without that, you will be set on a pathway to defeat in your Christian life, even if there is a trace of faith.

4. God will never turn away a genuine heart who truly seeks Him and will reveal Himself to them through Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus equates knowing God. Is there knowledge and faith in Jesus in your heart? That faith from knowing Christ will carry us through the trials and testings which Jesus Himself warned that they WILL come. Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 said that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Peter in 1 Peter 4:12 said to not be surprised at painful trials as though something strange is happening. The testings of our faith will come. Are we ready and will we stand?

5. Read Hebrew chapters 11 to chapters 13 as we prepare for our next study on what is faith.

Hebrews chapters 7 to 10:1-18

A continuation of Bible-Studies on the Book of Hebrews (1-3)

The reason why the generation of Israelites whom God delivered from Egyptian slavery and captivity who rebelled against God were forbidden to enter the Promised Land was due to their unbelief and disobedience. They have failed to combine faith with God’s revelation to them. The warning to the first century Christian Jewish recipients of the book of Hebrew is not to fall into the sin of the Israelites. Unlike them, the first century Jewish Christians have combined faith with the message they heard from the Gospel and are encouraged to make every effort to enter ‘God’s rest’  – our future heavenly dwelling, to hold firmly to the end. This must be their resolve with the promised divine Help from Jesus, the Merciful and Faithful High Priest. Therefore, leaving and having a clean break from the past, they need to lay and build on the foundation of their salvation,  Jesus Christ the Perfect High Priest, the Ultimate Perfect, Sinless Sacrifice for sins once and for all and the Mediator of the New Covenant.

When God made His promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18 based on an oath swearing by Himself, He had on mind the purpose of blessing all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s offspring, the Israelites. A blood covenant was then put in place through the Mosaic Law and Levitical Priesthood. The immutable God who never lies had fulfilled and is still fulfilling His promise to Abraham by sending Christ in His time to earth to die for sinful people on the cross for the purification of sins who now sits at God’s right hand interceding for those who belong to Him. He will  one day return to make complete salvation for those who are waiting for Him.  Jesus is the High Priest, God’s perfect sacrifice for sins and Mediator of the New Covenant, the fulfillment of the things which are to come,  foreshadowed in the Old Covenant.  (Hebrews 6:13-20)

Hebrews Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10:1-18 – Superiority of the New Covenant over the Old

The Old Covenant:

1. What is in the Old Covenant and how has it fail? Read Exodus 6:6-8; 19:4-6; 24:1-18

i. What promises were the Old Covenant based on?

ii. What are the conditions of blessings from God?

iii. Obedience is God’s condition to His blessings on Israel in the Old Covenant. The Israelites’ obligation is to obey God as  His treasured people. What do you think is the reason for their failure to keep it? In your opinion, is it possible for them to keep it?

iv. What had God intended to show by putting in place the Old Testament Law with the Levitical  Priesthood system of provision for sins?

v. Compare the Levitical Priesthood, animal sacrifices and the earthly tabernacle with Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant who is also the High Priest, sacrifice for sins, who now sits at the right hand of God, the true sanctuary and true tabernacle. Read Hebrews chapters 7 to 10:1-18 and write down your answers.

vi. Why is there the need for a new covenant with Jesus alone as the Mediator? Refer to previous bible-studies on chapters 1-6  if you find it difficult and come back to answer this question at the end of this bible-study (4).

The New Covenant:

2. By God’s design and purpose there is a new covenant because the old is only a foreshadow of what is to come. It was  ineffective and unable to make men holy, which merely cover over sins without removing and cleansing the guilty conscience of the sinner. The annual animal blood sacrifices for sins was a reminder of wrongdoings without the freedom of a clean and clear conscience which only the blood of Christ could give. The Levitical high priest being sinners themselves have to atone for their own sins before atoning for the sins of the people.  The total removal and cleansing of sins is the only way for a sinner to have direct access into the Holy Presence of God which Christ, sent by God came to do. As the perfect sinless High Priest, He entered into the Most Holy Place and offered Himself, the perfect sinless sacrifice for sins once for all. He came to remove and cleanse sins with all its guilt once for all forever. Therefore,  “….the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6.

3. Read Hebrews 8:8-12 and Jeremiah 31:31-34 for the ‘better promises’ on which the new covenant is founded on.

i. Note in 8:10 a new covenant is made ‘after that time’. ‘After that time’ refers to after the time the Old Testament Law was given. The new covenant was given through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah long after the Law was given through Moses.

ii. Read 8:10b – 12 for the better promises on which the new covenant is based on.  Write down these promises. There are a total of 4.

iv. Jesus is God’s answer to making possible and effective the promises of the new covenant. Read Hebrews chapter 9-10:1-18 and describe specifically how God through Christ make those promises possible and effective.

v. Relate your findings with Hebrews 8:8-12; 10:15-18

vi. Dwell on Jesus as:  a). the perfect, sinless High Priest who entered into the Most Holy Place once and for all. b). offered Himself as the ultimate perfect, sinless sacrifice for sins. c). thus becoming the Mediator of the New Covenant.

vii. Do you see why Jesus is God’s one and only answer to making sinful men holy so that they can gain direct access into His Holy Presence in order to know and experience Him? All these are made possible by Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant and effective through the working of the Holy Spirit who writes God’s laws in hearts and minds. Jesus is the perfect High Priest, the perfect sacrifice for sins once and for all and the Mediator of the New Covenant that makes the old useless and obsolete. (Hebrews 8:7, 13)

viii. With all these findings, why would it be more than a mistake but a great sin for the Jewish Christian recipients of the book of Hebrews to fall away from their faith by going back to Judaism which has it’s foundation on the old covenant?

Reflections:

1. What is God’s solution to a weak faith which may lead to the danger of falling away from one’s faith in Christ if left unattended? Read Hebrews 5:11-6:1

2. We must all grow and increase in our allegiance to Christ over time. Moving towards maturity in Christ requires consistent commitment to a daily reading and studying of Scriptures with a sincere heart to obey His teachings.

3. Make a pledge and commitment now to Christ as Lord of your life and commit yourself to reading His Word daily to know and obey Him.

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:11-14

My husband and I got into a fight after what I perceived as a let-down and disappointment about him not keeping his word. He promised he would walk with me while Tabby’s at piano lesson which did not materialized. Along with previous experiences of him ignoring me, I checked into a motel yesterday after deciding to bury our 15th wedding anniversary coming up on December 3rd and not having our Thanksgiving family dinner this Thursday. Throwing the frozen turkey thawing in the fridge back into the freezer, I packed my bag and left home yesterday morning.

I checked into Days Inn thinking of spending 2 nights and was spent and drained emotionally by the time I got in the motel room all alone by myself. I thought I was physically tired so I ate some breakfast, had a warm shower and tried to read the bible before going to sleep but unlike previous days it meant nothing to me. I prayed for the Lord to restore me and tried what the prophet Elijah did when he was depressed – food and sleep. After a couple hours of rest and sleep I still felt tired and realized that it was emotional fatigue I was experiencing. It was then that I decided to stop by home to pick up toothbrush and toothpaste which I had forgotten to bring. Something happened between the time I got up from my rest and when I got home. As soon as I arrived home,  the first thing  I did was head straight for the freezer in the garage, took the frozen turkey back out to thaw. Then I went into the house, got the toothbrush and toothpaste and decided to make cranberry sauce from the cranberries I picked up the other day from the store.  Finally, I decided to have the conversation which I had denied my husband before I left the house to talk things over. After we talked and prayed together and I knew immediately, the Lord had answered my prayers.  The spiritual healing and reconciliation which took place in our relationship brought restoration to my soul, the very reason for my emotional fatigue and restlessness of my soul. Whatever it takes, a marriage is worth saving and keeping as it pleases our God who hates divorce.  My husband, Tom, loves the Lord and will do whatever it takes to please and make me happy. I was hurt and angered by his failure to keep a promise when he got caught up with trying to figure out getting the camcorder hooked up on the TV for my daughter’s piano lesson. We were both too engrossed in ourselves.

Prone to wander, prone to sin, our soul will never find rest until we are at peace with God and with others.  He is the God who will never let go no matter how far away we wandered. Once sealed in Christ, we are forever His. I stepped right into darkness the morning I left home and checked into the motel, was on the pathway to waywardness and following the path of sin and disobedience. God’s Hand was upon me, as I could find no rest only lingering fatigue and tiredness.

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:7-12

God’s love and ever-living presence never left me despite my defiance and rebellion. Perfect peace, rest and restoration took place at the point of my obedience, turning around, taking steps towards love and reconciliation with Tom. In my quiet time this morning, I read 1 John chapter 1. “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:5-7

Tom and Tabby spent the night with me at the motel and I canceled the second night’s stay. Now, there’s a Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to tomorrow and a 15th year wedding anniversary to be celebrated and not buried. All thanks to our Faithful, God of love,  grace and mercy who never let us go, where our restless soul finds perfect peace and rest. I choose not to fight, only  surrender.

Song: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go – Chris Rice

Hebrews chapter 3:1-19 to chapter 6:1-12

Hebrews chapters 3:1-19 – 6:1-12 with the exhortation to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Son and faithful High Priest whom God had spoken by, is setting the stage for Jesus the Great High Priest and the Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 6:13-20; 7:1-28; 8:1-13; 9:1-28; 10:1-18) who is greater and of greater honor than Moses, a servant of God and the mediator of the old covenant with the Law and the Levitical priesthood.  The Jewish believers in danger of falling away from their faith in Christ were exhorted to fix their eyes on this Jesus and warned against unbelief and sin’s deceitfulness. The encouragement and assurance once again that Jesus the Great High Priest  more than understands and sympathizes with our weaknesses. They were exhorted to hold firmly to the faith they professed in Him. Mercy and grace will always be  given to help them in their time of need whenever they approach God’s Throne of grace through Jesus the Son. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Put yourself in the shoes of the first century believers who were the very first Christians in the history of mankind to believe and trust in Jesus for their salvation. After persecution broke out, these first century Jewish Christians were scattered and were persecuted, under severe threat and physical dangers, a result of their profession of faith. No one else apart from the Apostles and them have been Christians. Doubts, fears, abandonment, physical dangers were all very real in their circumstances. It is also noteworthy that these Jewish Christians were immature in their faith like infants not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness who fed only on milk. They were encouraged to move on to solid food, toward spiritual maturity. (Hebrews 5:12-6:1-3)

1. Has there ever been a time in your faith in Christ when you feel like giving up on Christ? (Put yourself in the shoes of the first century Christians.)

2. Picture and consider the humanity of Christ in relationship to Him now as the Great High Priest. What does that tell you about His infinite ability to relate and understand the weaknesses and temptations of these believers? Find answers in Hebrews 4:14-5:1-10.

3. What kinds of confidence and assurance do you think they get from Hebrews 5:8-10 and 4:16?

4. How do you think Jesus, the Source of eternal salvation designated by God to be our High Priest can help you to persevere in the testings of your faith?

5. Prior warnings before these encouragements were given against unbelief and sin’s deceitfulness like that of the Israelites in the wilderness. For context, read Hebrews 3:7-4:1-13; Psalm 95:7-11; Exodus 17:1-7; Deuteronomy 1:26-55.

The day of rebellion referred to in Hebrews 3:7-19 was the time when the Israelites, whom God brought out of Egyptian captivity and slavery, saw how God provided for them with manna and quail throughout that 40 years period of wandering in wilderness  and yet tried and tested God instead of  believing in Him when God tested them again. That happened prior to the Israelites’ entering into the land of Canaan, God’s Promised Land.

i. With an oath, God said that generation of Israelites shall never enter ‘My rest’ referring to the Promised Land. What was their grave sin which merited such deprivation and punishment?

ii.  They turned God’s testing of their faith to their testing God instead. Why and how is the sin of testing God equal to the sin of rebellion?

iii. From the Israelites’ example, what do you think is the root of rebellion against God?

iv. How do you think sin’s deceitfulness could harden our hearts and prevent us from seeing, believing and trusting the God who have already done so much for us especially through our salvation? Unbelief and allurements of their previous Egyptian life in enslavement and captivity led the Israelites to rebel against the God of their salvation and Provider.

v. They have seen what God had done in the wilderness but continued to allow their hearts to be deceived and hardened in unbelief thinking their previous life is better and more glorious then what they were experiencing in the wilderness. Instead of focusing on the future, God’s Promised Land, they chose to look back on the attractions of the Egyptian life while still in slavery and captivity. They could not focus on trusting God because they were deluded in their thinking and trusted in a past that was without God instead.

6. How do you think their plight and situation is similar to that of the first century Jewish Christians on the verge of falling away from their faith in Christ and going back to Judaism?

7. God’s rest, heaven, remains for those who will ‘hold firmly till the end’  the confidence they had at first (Hebrews 3:14) in faith and belief (Hebrews 3:14 and 4:1-3a).

8. The intention of the book of Hebrews is not to teach that it is possible for believers in Christ to lose their salvation but: i. To serve as a warning against recanting one’s faith in Christ under great sufferings and persecution during the first century. ii. It’s an encouragement with assurances to hang on and persevere to the end focusing on Jesus, the Son of God, Great High Priest and Mediator of the new covenant.  iii. Judaism, based on the Mosaic Law and Levitical Priesthood,  all encompassed the old covenant and is obsolete.  iv. To provide the comparisons and the superiority of the New over the Old Covenant.

The book is clearly written to Jewish Christians who have a faith in Jesus Christ and have been enlightened, tasted and experienced His goodness (Hebrews 6:4-6).  For such a person to recant their faith in Jesus and revert back to Judaism (the writer gave no indication that this had happened),  it will be impossible for them to be brought back to repentance.  The possibility of the falling away of their faith was only stated hypothetically. These Jewish believers were also considered infants in their faith and encouraged to “leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” (Hebrews 6:1-3) and to continue to show the same diligence in their love for God through their works of faith, imitating those who through faith and patience inherited what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:9-12) Jesus, the Son of God and the Great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, walked the earth and provided purification for sins, now sits at the right Hand of God and lives forever to intercede for them. He is their faithful High Priest and Merciful Helper and will help and assist them to persevere to the end in their persecutions. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Reflection:

a. Think how this study is going to help you in your respond to God when you are being tried and tested in your faith. Make sure that when God test your faith, it does not become you testing God in the process. That is the sin of unbelief and a rebellion against God.

b.The Word of God plays a major role to help move us from being babes and infants in Christ to greater spiritual maturity. Resolve before God to make it a priority to spend consistent daily time in His Word to strengthen your faith in Him.

c. Beware of  the cravings of sin from the previous life without God. All those have already been crucified and therefore died together with Christ on the cross. You have been made new, a new creation in Christ. Choose the life of Christ which is your present over the life of sin which is your past. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20)